New Health Centre
Over the holiday break, significant work was done building a new Health Centre in the Senior School, now located next to the pool and reception in the room that was formerly DA02. Should you need to pick your daughter up from school, please come to reception and you will be directed to the new facility.
We have also welcomed a new school nurse to the Health Centre team, Miss Caitlin Dixson. With the addition of a second school nurse, the Health Centre will now be staffed from 7:00am- 5:30pm to provide support for girls involved in before and after school activities. Miss Dixson comes to Meriden with experience working both as a school and paediatric nurse. We warmly welcome her to Meriden.
To get in touch with the Health Centre team, please email healthcentre@meriden.nsw.edu.au. Please send all updated action plans, information about medication and other health-related concerns to this email address so that both school nurses are made aware.
Book Review – Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It by Jennifer Breheny Wallace
Over the holiday period, I read a book recommended to me by Jennifer Breheny Wallace about the impact of achievement culture on young people. I highly recommend this book to parents who are finding that their daughter is struggling with the feeling of not “being enough” or “achieving enough”. It provides parents with practical strategies for how to counter this culture, including simple suggestions such as “leading with lunch” – asking questions about what happened at lunchtime before discussing an assessment or exam. Wallace emphasises the importance of young people knowing that they “matter,” not just because of what they do or achieve. Drawing from significant research, experts in a range of fields and her own experience, Wallace helpfully provides suggestions for how both parents and educators can work together to balance wanting our young people to develop a strong work ethic and challenge themselves, without making their achievements the centre point of their identity.
I highly recommend this book to both parents and staff and would welcome any feedback or discussion about the strategies that are suggested.